 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
"It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it." (The Hound of the Baskervilles)
Leslie S. Klinger is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes. He is the editor of the three-volume set The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, published by W.W. Norton in 2004 and 2005. The first two volumes, The Complete Short Stories, won the Edgar™, the highest award of the Mystery Writers of America, for “Best Critical/Biographical” work in 2005 and were short-listed for the Macavity, the Anthony, and the Agatha award. In 2006, the third volume, The Novels, was nominated for the Edgar™, the Macavity, the Anthony, and the Agatha awards, as well as a “Quill” award in the Mystery/Thriller category.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Leslie S. Klinger attended the University of California at Berkeley and received an A.B. in English in 1967, followed by a J.D. from Boalt Hall (School of Law, UC Berkeley) in 1970. He then moved to Los Angeles and began a legal career of tax, estate, and business planning for entrepreneurs, entertainers, and other high-net-worth individuals. He has lectured and written extensively on tax and estate planning.
Since 1968, the study of the lives of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson, M.D., has been his consuming passion. Klinger has written numerous articles on Sherlockiana, as well as the books The Life and Times of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, John H. Watson, M.D., Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Other Notable Personages, and (with Andrew Jay Peck) the revised edition of The Date Being—?: A Compendium of Sherlockian Chronologies. He has taught a number of UCLA Extension courses on "Sherlock Holmes and His World."
In 1998, the first volume of Les's award-winning Sherlock Holmes Reference Library was published by Gasogene Books. Aimed at the serious student of Sherlock Holmes, the Reference Library includes annotated editions of all nine volumes of Holmes tales as originally published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Baker Street Journal concluded, “There is no doubt that Klinger’s work...will become the standard text of reference for all serious Sherlockians...” Klinger is currently working on a tenth volume, an annotated collection of the “apocrypha,” stories about Holmes that are not quite part of the official “Canon.”
In addition, Les co-edited with S. E. Dahlinger a collection of mystery-related material from the Bookman magazine (1895-1933), to be published in 2007 by Wessex Press. Wessex also will publish a collection of his Sherlockian essays in 2007. Klinger writes occasional book reviews for the Los Angeles Times. His current project is The New Annotated Dracula, to be published by W. W. Norton in 2008.
Klinger is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, and served as the Series Editor for the Manuscript Series of The Baker Street Irregulars; he is currently the Series Editor for the History Series. He and his wife Sharon have five children and live in Malibu with their two dogs and three cats. He is especially proud to have appeared as a character in Laurie R. King’s The Art of Detection (2006)!.
